Sunday, February 13, 2011

If you are talking about this year, as of yesterday, and Chris McCormack's decision to go after a spot on the Australian Olympic Team for 20112, that answer now by default is, "No"! It's an interesting development to be sure - says a lot about the man and the sport. I have always liked Chris McCormack. To him triathlon has always been about swim/bike/run. He cares little about the format, drafting, no drafting, the length of the race, the stakes, where and when. He just loves to, swim/bike/run and race. He's a true original and Renaissance man in in the sport in this regard. No petty comments about how this format or this length or this race is better than another. It also says a lot about the sport of triathlon and what is this sports biggest stage, and I think there are some misconceptions there. Many, think that it's Ironman and Ironman Hawaii in particular - hard not to think this, if you are in the sport because the triathlon media and many triathletes are absolutely obsessed by the Ironman distance. The reality is that compared to the Olympic triathlon, the Ironman pales in terms world wide media attention and exposure. The Ironman is possibly the biggest event inside the sport of triathlon, but outside the sport of triathlon, it's most clearly the Olympic Games Triathlon.

Derek Aldritt asks - What is the worst excuse that you have ever used to get out of a training session?

I will counter this question with asking another - why would you be doing something as time consuming and arduous, as training for a triathlon if you were looking for excuses to get out of training? The training, first and foremost, has to be something you want to do. Lance Armstrong goes to great lengths in he first chapter of "It's Not About The Bike", about how getting on the bike and riding every day is what he wants to do. In fact, he hopes, he dies someday while riding his bike. A morbid thought to be sure, but the point being, that to be an endurance athlete is to have this inner passion and drive to want to be out there, doing what you do every day and few things will get in the way of that. Sure life gets in the way from time to time, but you should never resort to having to make up excuses to get out of training. This is what you want to do!

Larry Bradley asks - How much time will a racing flat save you in the run leg of an Olympic Distance triathlon?

In real time not a lot - in a 10K run at modest pace, we are talking 10's of seconds. Enough to possibly separate you and some competition. The real secret of racing flats or any special equipment that you use only on race day is the psychological boost that you will get from holding off using your best gear, and keeping it in reserve for race day use only. Of course, you should never use something, shoes or otherwise completely new and different on race day - everything should be tested in training first, to see how it works and your body reacts. However, the mental boost and edge that you get by having race-day-only gear can be significant and can't be over-looked.

Do you have a question about the Sport of Triathlon? You Ask, I tell!

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An old friend sent me this picture recently. Yes, that's yours truly rocking the Speedo in a triathlon race in the late 80's somewhere in Ontario. In a recent post, I was talking about Training Naked (although a different kind of naked) - back then we used to race nearly naked! And the little that we did wear, was trimmed in pink! Yikes!

What were we thinking? Swim/bike/run in a Speedo? Brilliant. It did make for quick transitions, but the only place that this sort of get-up was cool( and that's a stretch, looking back), was on race day on a triathlon race course. No where else. Of course, some did push the boundaries with this - wearing the Speedo elsewhere - out shopping and for coffee (I am serious), and that's why we have the Under-Pants Run at Ironman Hawaii and other Ironman races - as a sort-of lampooning send-up of how ridiculous, and potentially offensive this all was to others.

Fast forward to today, and thankfully tri clothing for triathlon races has become much better. Truth be told, doing it all in a Speedo was not that comfortable. I am not sure exactly what we were thinking. Hopefully, in some small way, our crazy ambitions and discomfort back then, has lead to the more realistic, modest and comfortable triathlon race apparel options that are available today.

Although, don't get me going on the compression socks! A blog for another day.

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